Nozzles



Oct. 17, 1967 R. G. c. ARRIDGE NOZZLES Filed oct. 4, 1963 non M A ttorney 3,347,208 NOZZLES Robert Graham Chadwick Arridge, Repton, England, assignor to Rolls-Royce Limited, Derby, England, a company of Great Britain Filed Oct. 4, 1963, Ser. No. 313,839 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Oct. 29, 1962, 40,886/62 6 Claims. (Cl. 118-420) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A nozzle for use in coating a filament with for example molten metal. The nozzle comprises an elongated body having two parallel passageways therein which intersect a slot defined by a pair of transversely extending walls defining apertures with the passageways which are elongated in direction perpendicular to the directions of travel of the filament through the slot.

This invention concerns a nozzle through which molten metal may be discharged.

According to the present invention there is provided a nozzle through which molten metal may be discharged comprising a member having two parallel passageways formed therein, and a slot, formed in the member between said passageways and extending completely through the member such that it intersects both passageways.

Preferably the intersection between each passageway and the slot is less than the maximum cross sectional dimension of each passageway. The passageways may eX- tend completely through the member.

The slot may be formed in one end of the member whereby it is open-ended. The slot may also be parallelsided, being disposed perpendicular to the common plane containing the parallel longitudinal axes of said passageways.

In a preferred embodiment, the passageways are circular in cross-section and the member is made of ceramic material.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of coating a filament or fiber with molten metal by discharging it from a nozzle as set forth above, said method comprising causing molten metal to flow through said passageways to said slot, and passing the filament or fiber continuously through the slot containing molten metal whereby the filament or fiber becomes coated in the molten metal. The fiber may be of silica and the metal aluminum.

The invention is illustrated, merely by way of example, in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE l is a diagrammatic sectional view of a furnace employing a nozzle in accordance with the present invention, and

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged perspective View of the nozzle shown in FIGURE 1.

Referring to the drawings, a furnace 10 comprises a crucible 12 Whose upper end is closed by a detachable lid 14. A discharge orifice 16 which is provided in the lower end of crucible 10, supports an outlet pipe 18, in the outer end of which is mounted a nozzle y20 for discharging molten metal from the furnace.

The nozzle 20, which is made of a ceramic material, is circular in cross-section and is provided with two parallel bores 22, each bore 22 extending axially of and completely through the nozzle 20.

A slot 24 is formed in one end of the nozzle 20. The open ended slot 24 is parallel sided and is at right angles to a common plane containing the parallel longitudinal United States Patent O 3,347,208. Patented Oct. 17, 1967 axes of said bores 22. The slot 24 extends between the bores 22 and intersects them, so that an axially extending slot 26 is formed in each bore 22 communicating with the slot y24. As seen from FIGURE 2, the intersection between each bore 22 and slot 24 is less than the maximum cross-sectional dimension of each bore.

Heating elements 28 are disposed around crucible 12 and outlet pipe 18.

When a fiber 30, which may be a silica fiber, is to be coated with metal, for example aluminum, aluminum powder is placed in the crucible 12 and reduced to a molten state by conductive heat from the heating elements 28. Upon reaching the molten state the metal will, under the force of gravity, pass through the outlet pipe 18 and to the nozzle 20, the molten metal then passes through bores 22 to slot 24 which will be filled or substantially filled with molten metal.

A silica fiber 30 which is carried on a supply bobbin 32 is then passed through the slot 24 and connected to a take-up bobbin 34 which may be rotated in any convenient manner, to cause the ber to travel through the slot.

When travelling through the slot 24 the fiber 30 picks up molten aluminum which solidifies to form a coating thereon.

It has been found that the fiber 30 does not move out of the slot 24 despite the continuous flow of molten metal therethrough. It is thought that this is because there is a temperature gradient between the point at which the bores 22 break into the slot 24 and the outermost end of the slot 24, whereby the metal adjacent the outermost end is in a slightly more solid state, thus preventing the fiber moving out of the slot.

It has been found that a nozzle in accordance with the invention provides a fiber with an uninterrupted coating of metal.

It will be appreciated that the slot 24 need not be open-ended by being formed in the end of nozzle 20. Thus the slot 24 could be formed adjacent the center of nozzle 20, the bores 22 either extending to the slot 24 only, or extending completely through the nozzle 20.

Also, of course, the intersection between the slot 24 and bores 22 need not be less than the cross-sectional dimension of each bore. The intersection could. be equal to or greater than the cross-sectional dimension.

The nozzle could be provided with more than two bores. Thus four bores could -be used, the slot 24 intersecting all four bores, two on each of its parallel sides. Again, the nozzle could, effectively consist of a number of the devices shown in the figures, connected side by side to provide a multiple nozzle.

I claim:

1. A nozzle through which molten metal may be uniformly discharged onto a traveling filament, said nozzle comprising: an elongated member having two parallel passageways extending therethrough for the molten metal and a slot defined by spaced parallel walls respectively intersecting said passageways into respective elongated apertures, said slot defining walls being disposed in respective planes which are substantially perpendicular to a plane containing the longitudinal aXes of said passageways, and said slot extending completely through said elongated member between said passageways and through which the filament moves perpendicular to each of the elongated apertures.

2. A nozzle as claimed in claim 1 in which the width of each of said elongated apertures is less than the maximum cross-sectional dimension of each of said passageways.

3. A nozzle as claimed in claim 1 in which said two parallel passageways extend completely through said References Cited elongated member. UNI D s T PATENT 4. A nozzle as claimed in claim 1 in which said slot TE T ES S in said elongated member is disposed at one end of the 1292371 1/1919 Remy 239-433 2,016,316 10/1935 Collins 117-44 member whereby the slot 1s open ended. 5

5. A nozzle as claimed in claim 1 in which said pas- 27725 18 12/1956 Whltehurst et al' 118-401 X Sageways are emular m Cross`sectl0n CHARLES A.W1LLMUTH,P/-fmwy Examiner.

6. A nozzle as claimed in claimvl in which saidelongated member is formed of ceramic material. I. P. MCINTOSH, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A NOZZLE THROUGH WHICH MOLTEN METAL MAY BE UNIFORMLY DISCHARGED ONTO A TRAVELING FILAMENT, SAID NOZZLE COMPRISING: AN ELONGATED MEMBER HAVING TWO PARALLEL PASSAGEWAYS EXTENDING THERETHROUGH FOR THE MOLTEN METAL AND A SLOT DEFINED BY SPACED PARALLEL WALLS RESPECTIVELY INTERSECTING SAID PASSAGEWAYS INTO RESPECTIVE ELONGATED APERTURES, SAID SLOT DEFINING WALLS BEING DISPOSED IN RESPECTIVE PLANES WHICH ARE SUBSTANTIALLY PERPENDICULAR TO A PLANE CONTAINING THE LONGITUDINAL AXES OF SAID PASSAGEWAYS, AND SAID SLOT EXTENDING COMPLETELY THROUGH SAID ELONGATED MEMBER BETWEEN SAID PASSAGEWAYS AND THROUGH WHICH THE FILAMENT MOVES PERPENDICULAR TO EACH OF THE ELONGATED APERTURES. 